You may or may not know but we have quite a few green thumbs around Nantucket Home. Janet, Marci, Nan are just a few of our talented gardeners while I am still an attentive novice at the art of cultivation. So the other day, from my kitchen window, you can imagine my surprise when I saw this...

well, it’s my garden, of course! But I couldn’t figure out what the little, red dot was. Was it a strawberry, a leaf from another tree that landed in my garden, was it a plastic, outdoor toy? As I got closer, I realized it was a newly born, baby flower. My mom had given Mason some edible flowers for her to plant and since we didn’t have any more planting space in pots, we figured they would be pretty lining the garden. This one is just beginning to bloom.

Then I went out yesterday and noticed a lot more. We now have orange, a deep red and even some pretty yellow ones!

Our tomatoes are growing and growing. Growing so much that I had to get a larger cage for them. This was quite the experience and one that I don’t ever want to do again. I learned my lesson!

First I had to take out the old cage, which had already been grown up onto by the tomato plant. Every time I pulled up, there was a new branch that I had to work off, or sadly, break off. After the first baby tomato fell off, I was sick to my stomach. A sweet and juicy life lost. But it was super hot that day and I had no patience with being too gentle. When the old one finally came free, the whole plant flopped around. The next part was the more difficult part and I was really regretting taking off the old one. I should have just dealt with it being too small. But I had no choice…I had to get the new one on! So I had Mason hold the branches up and together while I laid the new cage over the top. This was hard because, well, Mason got tired of holding, was hot and then was distracted by a toy…so she left. Now alone, it was even harder, so with one hand, I wove branches into the cage and with the other hand, I tried to guide the cage down, over the plant and into the ground. On the way, more victims fell off the branches. I even scratched the plant’s branches a few times. I was so sad, but over and over in my head, I kept repeating, “Plants are resilient creatures.” Something I happened to read just a few days before this fiasco. I had to continuously remind myself that our tomato plant will be fine, that she’ll adapt to her new home and grow around it. And ta-da…here’s the new cage and the now small looking plant in it!

As you can see, there are still tomatoes growing on it, despite the trauma it went through. Poor little girl. I’ve been checking on her daily and she’s happy. Now she has room to grow and stretch. I think her new home (and the stress it put on us both) was worth it. So far, though, no red little yummies to eat!

Does anyone have tomatoes yet…or is it just me? What other fruits and vegetables have you been enjoying from your garden lately?